LEGION: Bordentown lives to fight another day

WEST DEPTFORD — Bordentown Post 26 manager Tom Dolan doesn’t have to worry about his club when it’s at the plate.

Case in point: Saturday afternoon’s 20-hit barrage in a 12-7 victory over Jackson that kept Post 26 alive in the District 4 American Legion playoffs at Union Field.

“We’ve been real happy with the way we’ve been hitting the ball,” Dolan said. “We’ve got like 46 hits in three games so our hitting hasn’t been the problem. We had the one bad inning against West Deptford and other than that we’ve been right there.”

Steen and Fillmyer got Bordentown off to a fast start with back-to-back doubles for an early lead. Stupienski knocked in Fillmyer with a single — he was thrown out trying to reach second — that made it 2-0 after one.

“We came out swinging,” Fillmyer said. “But that’s what we were planning on doing.”

There really wasn’t much any of the three pitchers Jackson used could do about it.

Post 26 added two more in the second as the rain started. But the game wasn’t delayed and that worked out in Bordentown’s favor.

Their bats weren’t ready to cool off.

Up 4-2 heading into the fourth, Fillmyer led off with a single, stole second and third and came in to score on Joe Gutowski’s groundout. Stupienski then worked a walk, Dan Hornyak reached on an error and two batters later Cullen Carter plated them both with a single.

While Post 26 was torching Jackson with the bats, it couldn’t put the game totally out of reach. Three Bordentown pitchers combined to issue 11 walks — a big reason why the game lasted three-and-a-half hours — but only three of those free passes resulted in runs.

And to their credit, Bordentown stranded 12 Jackson base runners.

Tyler O’Dell picked up the victory, coming in to relieve starter TJ Karwowski, who issued eight free passes in his four innings. O’Dell tossed four frames, allowing three runs (two earned), striking out two and walking two.

Fillmyer finished off the ninth, although he gave up a pair of runs.

Stupienski and Frank Bilancio added insurance runs in the ninth with back-to-back home runs.

“I said at the beginning of the year, even if you’re batting seventh, eighth or ninth on this team, it’s nothing bad,” Dolan said. “I got hitters on the bench. You see it when I bring Bilancio off the bench and he hits a home run. We got hitters all through this team.”

Bordentown returns to Union Field Sunday to face Haddon Heights, who defeated Washington Twp., 10-2, at 3 p.m. Post 26 already beat HH, 8-1, in the District 4 opener. The winner has to play a second game at 6 p.m. against the loser of the Allentown/West Deptford game.

It’s a position Bordentown is familiar with.

“We put ourselves in this situation by not finishing strong against West Deptford,” Dolan said. “We’ve been here before. We lost the first game last year and had to win those extra games and these kids did it.”

About the Author

Kyle Franko covers college and high school sports at the Trentonian. He is a Rutgers grad, avid football -- the European variety -- fan and part-time pick-up basketball player. Reach the author at kfranko@trentonian.com
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